This resin furniture and kitchenware collection by Canadian designer Martha Sturdy draws reference from the ocean, forests and rugged mountains of the Canadian west coast.

Each piece is an investment, in aesthetic and function. It is what keeps us connected with our selves and creates resolution in our designs – we admire nature most for the dichotomy of its resilience and delicate balance. This is reflected in the materials that are core to our brand; beyond being merely beautiful, our materials consider durability and are deeply connected to the elements.

The M House Project surprises through its architecture modernism, unconventional forms and combination of materials (glass, concrete) both as regards facade and interior. The minimalist design harmoniously integrates light, shadow and textures, blending them with the usefulness of natural location as well as the heating and air conditioning system used.

A translucent glass bridge connects this 1,820 square foot pavilion to a mid-century modern house designed by Bay Area architect Ernest Born. Gently placed among existing trees, the addition, though physically simple, is phenomenally complex. A private cypress grove in the rear and the Pacific Ocean in front are experientially connected through a strategic layering of space, view, reflection, acoustics, and nature. More here.

The primary goal was to design an addition to a mid-century modern house designed by the renowned architect Ernest Born, without compromising the existing home in any way. The second goal was to respond to the physical environment responsibly and sensitively.

The client is a single father of two teenage sons as well as an avid surfer. The site is on the western edge of San Francisco, facing the Pacific Ocean. The existing home is unique within the neighborhood in that it adjoins a large garden to the rear as well as to the side of the house.

The primary diagram nestles a three-story pavilion 10′ away from the existing home, within a grove of existing cypress trees. The only alteration to the existing house, and the only interior connection, is a 9′ x 5′ incision in the side of the house on the second floor, where a translucent glass bridge connects the two structures. While both structures maintain their autonomy, their connection to both the surrounding landscape and to each other is complimentary and mutually enriching.

While producing, I always imagine my creations would blend in our day-to-day life. Through my works, I want to express an atmosphere that makes you feel some sort of “time accumulation,” – objects that seem to exist from long, long time ago. I always hope that vases and tableware that I make would promote a little bit richer, more comfortable life of ours. My vases were created with an image of folk instruments hung on the walls of old houses or farm houses. I believe the metallic glaze I chose to use is very effective to express such an atmosphere.

To some extent, the shapes of my works also have been inspired by those tools and agricultural instruments, however, what I want to realize is the functional beauty of them – beauty of an inevitability the functional elements of those tools have.

The metallic texture has not only sharpness but also an oozing softness only the ceramics can produce, contributing to a different attraction from the real metal. When fired, the clay can stop the moment and permanently retain an expression of time passing and dissolving – one thing that has allured me for so long in managing the material of clay.

I also want to esteem the attraction in the textures of ancient ceramics. In the white glazed containers, I tried to reflect a soft and smooth texture of Faience, widely popular pottery in the 15-16th centuries Europe. And with the blue glazed containers, I wanted to regenerate the blue surface of the pottery used in ancient Egypt and Turkey.

I have been strongly fascinated with the beauty of functioning objects, and shapes produced by the objects when they are used. I always want to make an artwork whose form would offer a glimpse of its background, suggesting a presence based on its inevitability.

Honjyo-shi is a small area located in Saitama Prefecture. It is an hour and a half by car from Tokyo, Japan. Almost all residents here always use their own cars when they go somewhere because there is no available public transportation like trains and buses. This means that we need to consider providing parking spaces when building new houses within this area.

First, when we thought the outline of this house, we allotted the proper setbacks within the site. From this, we came up with a car parking space and a small garden. At the same time, we could get enough sunlight from every directions. Second, we designed 3 narrow windows on the south, east and west side of the house. Then we designed triangle voids in front of these windows on the second floor. These voids provided visual connections to the outside and inside of the house. And people inside this house can anticipate the presence of each other within different spaces or rooms. You could feel how the sunlight changes anytime as well as the changes in season.

Finally, we set some furniture on the border of the triangle voids and each places. The inner space of this architecture is divided into smaller spaces and it can be adjusted depending on the resident’s preference.

House in Goido is a minimalist home located in Nasa, Japan, designed by Fujiwarramuro Architects. The clients requested that the home be designed to be relatively private while maintaining a well-lit and comfortable interior environment.

The complex spatial configuration included several semi-outdoor exterior spaces that resemble atriums or public plazas. Ascending from the staircase one emerges into a central plaza that forms the core of the structure. A skylight illuminates that various volumes with an abundant amount of natural lighting.

This is neat. These vases by Japanese Oodesign are shaped like ripples in water, allowing users to place flowers into a formed resin void – floating nonchalantly on the water. According to the movement of the air, the plants change their position within the container.

The Habitat Hotel is a little decorative “home” of sorts that invites all of the various helpful insects to your yard. Crafted from solid pine wood and bamboo, this home of sorts will attract butterflies, solitary bees and more. There are even a couple of areas at the bottom portion of the house that are open and ready for you to insert nesting material and whatever else may attract the insects you need to help your garden flourish.

One of our client’s major requirements was for a living space where the presence of the family would always be felt. In response, we devised a single-roomed layout without columns that took advantage of the distinctive features of the existing warehouse. A large kitchen was installed to cater to the needs of the food-loving husband-and-wife couple. We then conceived the entire living space by taking the kitchen as a focal point, with a mix of various other activities and functions unfolding around it. Within this single-roomed space, we also created a box-like structure with a loft bedroom for the children on top of it, and private quarters including a bedroom and bathroom inside it. In order to minimize heat loss within this massive space, a 100mm layer of urethane foam was added to the walls, floors and ceiling, while a combined heat and power device was installed in the living room to heat water and provide floor heating. All openings were designed by making use of existing sash windows and doors, while glass panes were all given a double-glazing treatment to improve insulation. The façade of the building was left intact in an effort to blend in with the surrounding neighborhood, as well as due to cost considerations. The result was a comfortable, luxurious home that made effective use of existing features while also avoiding excessive expense.

Designed exclusively for plant lovers who just can’t seem to get organized enough to keep their greenery alive, Stefano Claudio Bison’s sponge pots absorb and hold onto as much moisture as possible every time they’re watered. An interesting idea.

Pin City Wall Maps are designed by Alessandro Maffioletti and Emanuele Pizzolorusso, the maps are printed on flexible felt panel, and can be used to pin your favorite spots in the city. On offer London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam or Berlin and a World Map is also available.

The ‘Geo’ rug collection takes a starting point from Ella’s photographical work which captures the shadow and surface textures of architectural walls. These photographic images have been translated into three dimensional relief which captures the surface textures and shadow effects of the original inspiration.

The plans which define the geometry – opaque in grayish materiality, clear in glass surfaces or vibrant on the access mural – shows its presence like a new event around the bucolic surroundings, where curious people wonder this new construction. Its discordant geometry in relation to the traditional houses of the neighborhood surprises upon the moment when it conceals any territorial definition, admitting as an element and as a public event, takes possession of the street which allows to be perceived. Through its whole property’s occupation as it is available, it shares its limits as if internalizes the surrounding and though arises its unique place.

More than a space, its levels gradually form a path through which outside and inside merge in a proper and continuous shape. The house discovers new possibilities to the limitations of the scanty plot, whose complexity exceeds horizontal and vertical routes which invariably leads to a new spacial experience, capable to elucidate singularities of the district’s geography.

The brief for the house revolved around accommodating a family, including 3 children. The proposal included 3 new bedrooms and activity space to the new first floor at the rear and a large family /kitchen area directly below. The existing house included a new master bedroom / ensuite, study and the maintenance of the original grand dining room and lounge areas.

The idea of the house was organised around finding a compatible but distinctive relationship between the existing interior and the new addition and the existing external form and the new addition. This was achieved through the use of a common materiality contrasting black brick for the new against red brick in the old. The pitched external roof forms, a requirement of stringent Heritage guidelines, were expressed as “twin peaked” gable ends that aligned directly with the with the double valley hip roof of the existing house. The external timber clad rainscreen is defined as a one third proportion that aligns directly with the existing slate tiled roof of the existing house. While compatible in terms of proportion and alignment the reductive abstraction of the new exterior and interior, suggests a new relationship to both the immediate garden and the greater surrounding context.

Internally the new addition uses white painted timber lining boards and exposed internal black work to define a new family living space. The use of materials normally associated with the exterior of a Heritage house suggests an inversion of our normal reading of an interior that is both surprising and yet reassuring in terms of its familiarity.

Creating this ‘Sensualscaping Stairs’ as one part of a house in Clapham, the Architects from Atmos Studio tried to bring the spirit and sensuality of the rear garden deep into the house, choreographing a sequence of luxurious sculptural spaces. The stair is formed from a series of threads, hanging from above and delicately pulled back like a veil at the edge of the floor to allow movement past, gently splaying around the corner to meet and carry the arriving visitor.